gathered, aunt Corinne bethought her to examine if they were fit to
eat. They were not; for besides an ancient flavor, the first kernel
betrayed the fact that these were pig-nuts instead of hickory.

[Illustration: BOBADAY'S NARROW ESCAPE.]

"You would have 'em," said Bobaday, kicking the pile. "I didn't
think they's good, anyhow."

"They looked just like our little hickories," said aunt Corinne,
twisting her mouth at the acrid kernel, "that used to lay under that
tree in the pasture. And their shells are as sound."

But there was compensation in two saplings which submitted to be
rode as teeters part of the idle afternoon.

Grandma Padgett had put away the tea things before Zene returned. He
brought with him a wagon-maker from one of the villages on the 'pike.
The wagon-maker, after examining the disabled vehicle, and getting
the dimensions of the other hind wheel which Zene had forgotten to
take to him, assured the party he would set them up all right in a
day or two.

Grandma Padgett was sitting on a log knitting.

"We'd better have kept to the 'pike," she remarked.

"Yes, marm," responded Zene.

"The toll-gates would be a small expense compared to this."